Book Review - Arise

Title: Arise
Author: Tara Hudson
Series: Hereafter (book 2)
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books
Release Date: 5 July 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0007437276

Synopsis
Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life...a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her.

My Review
I won a competition on the author's site and got a proof copy of this book. I was so excited when I found out, I absolutely LOVED book 1 and couldn't wait to read this one. When this arrived I screamed and jumped about, and to make it even better Tara had signed it!!!! :O
I sat down yesterday afternoon to start reading whilst I was waiting for my dinner, turns out I got completely hooked and ending up eating as quickly as possible before picking up the book again. 
I had to put it down when I was about half way through and I was desperate to finish it.
I sat down this morning and dived straight back in, thought I would only be able to read a little bit more but I managed to finish the whole thing (did mean I was late going out in the afternoon but never mind!)
It has been a while since I read book 1 and I was worried I wouldn't remember enough of the story, but my fears were unnecessary, I was immediately pulled back into Amelia's world. I had no trouble remembering who the characters were and I was straight back into that world.
Amelia and Joshua are still together, but in a way that can't last, Amelia is still a ghost and can only be seen by Joshua and his sister Jillian (who seems to hate her). Joshua is starting to become very isolated, spending all his time with Amelia, but she realises she is hurting his life and tries to fix it, but their problems get much worse when Amelia finds out the Demons are after her again and this time, nothing is going to stop them.
There are new characters in this book, a lot of Seers which is quite cool, I liked to see the different ways they could interact with Amelia. Some old favourites were back - Grandma Ruth, although a shadow of her former self, she was still creepy.
I also loved the introduction of Gaby, she was weird and creepy, but cool and funky. Really cool character. I liked her a lot. She takes the story down a whole new road and I did not expect it, but it is just like WOAH! amazing.
This book is what I would call an easy read, the sort of story that just sweeps you up and carries you through, a great plot and story, well set out and brilliantly paced, makes reading it almost effortless. This is a fairly average sized book at 405 pages, not too long, not too short, just right. But what those pages contain is just awesome.
Tara Hudson has really impressed me with her writing, it just seems to flow so well and spin such fantastic stories and I want more of it.
I can't believe how long I have to wait now for the next part, this one isn't even officially released for another 3 months. But I am so glad i got an advanced copy. You are all in for a treat!

My Rating